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DC Everest board approves move to weighted grading for 2025–26 after debate over equity and logistics
Summary
The D C Everest School Board voted to adopt a weighted grading system for the 2025–26 school year, adding 0.5 for honors/certification courses and 1.0 for AP/dual-enrollment. Administrators highlighted constraints with transcripts and possible uneven effects on current students; the board approved the proposal by voice vote.
The D C Everest Area School District board voted to implement a weighted grading system beginning in the 2025–26 school year, officials said.
Administrators proposed awarding a 0.5 ‘‘bump’’ for honors courses and industry-certification coursework and a 1.0 bump for college-credit-bearing classes such as AP or dual-enrollment. The policy includes a safeguard that grades of D or F receive no weight adjustment, and the district recommended phasing the change so students receive weighting only for grades earned after implementation.
Dr. Michael Rather, presenting the recommendation, said the change was prompted in part by Wisconsin’s Act 95 and by stakeholder feedback. He said the district held student and parent sessions, and faculty generally favored a system that incentivizes rigor. ‘‘We want to incentivize students to take rigor and to challenge themselves,’’ Rather said.
Board members asked detailed questions about class rank, scholarship calculations and technical constraints. Administrators cautioned that the district uses a single transcript upload through a provider (Parchment) and cannot maintain parallel weighted and unweighted transcript versions. ‘‘It’s one transcript and it’s the same for everybody that we upload,’’ Rather said, adding that school profiles will note the district’s move to weighted grading so college admissions offices can interpret transcripts.
The board debated how the change would affect students already in grades 9–12. Rather said some current students could be disadvantaged depending on when they take nonweighted classes, and acknowledged counselors will need to manage sequencing to reduce unintended impacts. Board members pressed for clarity about whether class-rank calculations could remain independently unweighted; administration said running dual systems would be technically difficult and error-prone.
After discussion the board moved, seconded and approved implementation by voice vote. The administration said it will provide more detailed guidance to counselors and families to explain year-by-year onboarding and how the change will appear on official school profiles.
